Despite being mediated by scribes, the detailed records from Joan's trial and rehabilitation offer an exceptionally rare opportunity to hear the wit, courage, and personality of a 15th-century peasant girl in her own words. This direct voice is a primary source of her enduring historical power.

Contrary to the popular image, Joan of Arc was not a shepherdess and displayed a degree of class consciousness about it. During her trial, she insisted she was a spinner and sewer—a more respectable trade—and challenged the court women to match her skill, revealing a pride in her higher-than-lowest-peasant status.

Joan's decision to wear men's clothing was a profound theological transgression, explicitly condemned in the Book of Deuteronomy. She never justified it on practical grounds like safety, but as a direct command from her voices. This framed the act as one of religious obedience that paradoxically broke religious law, making it central to her heresy charge.

The Dauphin's court did not accept Joan in a vacuum. Decades-old prophecies foretelling that a virgin would save France provided the political and cultural cover necessary to support her seemingly outlandish mission. This pre-existing narrative made her claims plausible and her backing politically defensible.

The English believed their string of improbable victories against a larger, richer France proved God's favor. They viewed their claim to the French throne not as aggression but as a divinely sanctioned right, using battlefield success as theological proof that their cause was just.

Her primary miracle, the relief of Orléans, was a stunning military success, not a supernatural event. By attributing it to God's will, she created a powerful narrative of divine favor that shattered English morale and galvanized French forces, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The court ritual where Joan "identified" the Dauphin she had already met was a deliberate piece of political theatre. This staged "pantomime" was not a genuine test but a public relations exercise designed to cement the narrative of her divine gifts and the Dauphin's legitimacy in the minds of the entire court.

After Joan was captured, Charles VII's regime strategically distanced itself. The official line was that God allowed her capture as punishment for her pride and folly. This narrative protected the king from the embarrassment of her failure and allowed him to move on.

Joan's dictated letter to the English was not a negotiation but a divine ultimatum. By positioning herself as a "captain of war" sent by the "King of Heaven," she reframed the political conflict as a holy war, a powerful psychological tactic designed to demoralize her opponents by presenting her victory as inevitable.